THOMAS CLARKSON SCHOOL: Mum's protest over axing of A level course at Wisbech
ANGRY parent Patricia Haggerty will meet Malcolm Moss MP today (Fri) to protest over a cost cutting measure at the Thomas Clarkson School that she says will affect one of her son s education. She is unhappy that her son will have to continue his A level
ANGRY parent Patricia Haggerty will meet Malcolm Moss MP today (Fri) to protest over a cost cutting measure at the Thomas Clarkson School that she says will affect one of her son's education.
She is unhappy that her son will have to continue his A level course at Kings Lynn in September after head teacher John Bennett pulled the course at the Wisbech school.
Mr Bennett said the cost of teaching the course at the school could not be justified and it made economic sense to transfer the student to Kings Lynn.
"If you ask around, other post 16 providers don't always do it," he said. "To have a teacher for four hours a week costs £5,600 a year and to make that course viable you need 10-12 students. You can't run a course for one student."
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Last year post 16 provision lost £58,000 "because of very unviable groups and we cannot do that. We have not axed anything- the courses needed are at Kings Lynn."
As a parent Mr Bennett said he understood Mrs Haggerty's concerns and a change of teacher and a change of time tabling was also a shame.
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"But there's been no mass of parents to seem me. Parents know I care and I am very supportive of them but I cannot continue to overspend," he said.
He added that the students involved in switching to Lynn would be offered free transport on local buses.
Mrs Haggerty, however, feels it is false economy to send students to Lynn and the school had committed to these students for a two year period "and they are now backing down half way through."
She said: "I wish I had sent my children to Neale Wade in March. They would have been there since they were 11 and would have built a good rapport with the teachers. "By going to Kings Lynn they have to build new relationships while studying their A levels. It is young people's lives they are messing around with."
She will meet Mr Moss, the MP for NE Cambs, today and is sending a complaint to the Department for education.
